There is a lot that goes into the making of a television commercial. It might even involve car dashboards and breakfast cereal.

For example, take the recent road safety commercial that Java Post Production made with Phoenix Group for SGI (Saskatchewan Government Insurance). Directed by Stephen Hall, the commercial's climactic scene shows a mother and her young daughter involved in an automobile collision, with the young girl's drink cup and cereal snack crashing against the car's dashboard in slow motion. See the Related Project Video to watch the finished commercial.

But, a week before that scene was shot at the Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios in Regina, Stephen and the Java Post crew were testing how Cheerios crashed against a car dashboard. No, seriously, this is what we do at work.

In a room at the Java Post office, Crystal Van Pelt, Randy Shumay, and Stephen Hall (L to R) set up a car dashboard on the floor. For last year's SGI commercial we had a coffin in this room. This year, it's a car dashboard. Normal offices have, like, desks and stuff. Or so we've heard.

For this test we just used a regular DSLR camera. When it comes time for the actual shoot at the Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios we'll be using a very high-tech super-slow-motion camera. But more on that in a future post.

Stephen uses a plumb line to ensure his Cheerio drop point is right over the section of the dashboard where he wants the Cheerios to land.

Crystal and Randy check out the shot in the camera viewfinder.

Looks like the shot is lined up. Time to start dropping the Cheerios.

Using the end of C-stand as a constant reference drop-point, the crew prepares to release the Cheerios.

And there they go!

Cool! An action shot caught in mid-plummet.

No Cheerios were harmed in the filming of this test.

Okay, to be honest, a few were crushed and some were eaten. But they're only Cheerios, so no big whoop.

Stay tuned for the next installment of our Java Post behind-the-scenes look at the making of the latest SGI road safety commercial.

Links to all 7 behind-the-scenes blog posts:
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7 - the Final Episode!